Once the three European days have ended, with joys and sorrows for the Italian teams, it is time to go back to thinking about Serie A, with Napoli who will be the first team to take to the field, after the press conference, anything but banal, of Antonio Conte from two days ago who told a lot about the thoughts of the Salento coach. Before talking about what’s going on in the Neapolitan coach’s head, however, it is right to take a step back to Juventus’ match on Tuesday evening, with the feat in Leipzig in 10 against 11 which told a lot. Thiago Motta has already changed the mentality of his Juventus. Turning a game around with one man less, on a very complicated pitch, showed the whole of Europe that the Old Lady is coming back, and a lot of credit certainly goes to the coach, who in one fell swoop managed to kick the bad luck , see the injuries to Bremer and Nico Gonzalez in the first half, and those five minutes of madness that would have killed anyone except his Juventus. First Di Gregorio’s expulsion, then Douglas Luiz’s handball, and finally the penalty kick scored by Sesko, who had given Lispia the lead with the advantage of numerical superiority.
Any coach, or almost any, would have lowered the team, to try to contain the opponent and try to exploit the counterattack, but Thiago Motta thought in a completely different way: high team, ball recovery, zero fear and head for the three points, which first Vlahovic and then Francisco Conceicao gave him, complete with a bump for an elbow given by Gatti to the Juventus coach himself. And Dusan Vlahovic himself spoke as a true leader after the match, moving away the controversy, thanks to 4 goals in 5 days, and taking his team by the hand.
The Bremer tile.
The bad news, however, came from Gleison Bremer, who came off after 3 minutes in the match against Leipzig. Meniscus tear and anterior knee ligament injury. Translated: season practically over. A boulder, a huge problem, with the transfer market still very far away and three months to play without the pillar of defense. The certain thing is that Thiago Motta will find a solution, also thanking Milan who perhaps too lightly sold Pierre Kalulu, who is very similar, in terms of performances and drive even as a central defender, to the Riccardo Calafiori who exploded last year at Bologna right under the guidance of Motta. Danilo and Gatti will be called to overtime and who knows if there might be some regret over the sale of Djalo in the final hours of the transfer window, but there’s no point looking back now.
Here we are in Naples.
Having said that about Juve, now let’s move on to Napoli and the words of Antonio Conte. Tonight the Neapolitans will take to the field in the match against Como at the Maradona, with the aim of maintaining first place in the standings, which would remain in the blue for the entire period of the October break. “Cca’ nisciun’ is stupid”, declared, in Neapolitan, the coach, who responded to a question about the scudetto, also stating that titles are almost always won by clubs that have history and a full trophy cabinet, but it is It’s impossible not to think that the Conte himself doesn’t really think about it. His team is strong, has only one match per week, still has to show the best of many players, and is aiming for the second championship in three years, after the one in 2023. There will be no shortage of opponents, but Conte always sets out to win, at regardless of his statements.
The Inter of the reserves.
The one who will certainly annoy everyone is the reigning Italian champions Inter. The certainties are always the same for Simone Inzaghi, but the match against Red Star showed that this year there are also other cards that the coach can play. One above all is that of Mehdi Taremi. The Iranian scored a goal and provided two assists in the Champions League and was thus the true protagonist of the evening at San Siro. He’s not a starter, but almost, like Piotr Zielinski, who is finding more and more space. The summer was the second line market for Inter, who did not purchase players worth 100 million but who made other arrows available to Inzaghi ready to be shot to confirm himself in Italy and get all the way to the Champions League.